Originally Posted by
jamesdak
Actually "I typed" as if I didn't know you repaired "crap like that" all day. That would be because I am not a mind reader and have no clue who you are or what you do. So, don't be offended.
Now, look at it from my perspective. I'm just a simple ol' rider looking to improve on my heavy Bontrager SSR. I research the internet and find several posts at different sites about BBW wheels. Easily 95% or more of the posters that have them are happy and have had no problems. A couple have had problems but were impressed with the customer service and how they fixed the problem. And they did fix the problem. Then one guy had a problem and never let the company fix it.
Then you have a few posters on the threads calling them crap and whatever but never saying if they have ever used or even laid eyes on them. In this post people keep dogging crappy joytech hubs. Yet the Blackset Race says nothing about using Joytech hubs so to me that is not even revelent.
So given the facts as I have them, what should I think?
Add in a few other points, I have Rolf Vector Comps on my LeMond which many call crap. Yet I've been riding them all last year weighing at times over 190 lbs and have had zero issues.
Same with my Mavic CXP 21 rims mounted to Shimano 105 5500 hubs. No problems all season with them although right now the hubs seem a bit tight. Figuring on cracking them open, cleaning, inspecting, and relubing. Nothing special those about these rims but they've worked for me just fine. One broken spoke the day after a truck clipped me on that wheel.
So, how specifically are the Blackset Race wheels junk. You say the rims are throwaway. Ok, but what does that mean? They last 100 miles and you junk them, or they go 5000 miles and you junk them?? As to repair, they are sealed bearings and actually owners of the wheels have found replacement sealed bearings readily available at generic auto parts stores for just a few bucks. So maybe replacement parts are not actually a problem.
What do you really know about the hubs being used in the Blackset Race and their quality? Heck for that matter, what characteristics make a quality hub??
So, do you see my viewpoint on this? My budget is limited and I just want to make an imformed good buy. I'm not trying to champion any product. PSIMET's wheels get rave reviews here but BBW wheels get plenty of rave reviews also. Heck maybe I should just be asking Rob how his buildup is better? He is using name brand parts I can easily research where as with BBW I don't know who makes the parts. Not that this is a bad thing is they perform well though right?
I have a lot of experience with wheels like that and i'll share them.
So either you can choose to listen to it or keep gathering information that tells you what you want to hear.
1) Those are joytech hubs, anyone who's worked on wheels in general will know this. They have zero aftermarket support for their product at least in north america. Freehub toast? Seals gone? Other small hub parts gone? Good luck.
2) Those rims will wholesale for about $10. If that, from taiwan. They even *look* cheap. I'm not sure how much more of a giveaway that can be.
3) The wheelset is throwaway in the sense that once the rim is worn out, the hub is not worth your labour to relace to. Hell it's not worth relacing that even if your labour was free and your time was unlimited.
4) Sealed bearings are obviously not the problem. Every single cartridge hub on the market uses easily sourced commercially available cartridges. This is common knowledge and its not the problem. See point #1.
The wheelset is $200 MSRP. The wholesale from taiwan is significantly less than that and I guarantee you they are not handbuilt for that price.
If your budget is limited, at least make an informed choice. Just because a million people on their website (bias any?) say it's good doesn't make it so. There are plenty of people out there who have no ****ing clue that something sucks because they've never seen better.
Want to know why shimano groups and their associated parts aren't always the lightest? Even the dura ace stuff? It's because their **** *works*. I'll give you an example.
Shimano SPD-SL's BULLETPROOF.
Looks? Axle recalls.
Speedplay? ****tiest seals on the face of the planet. Needle bearings inside the body are non replaceable and are always the first to go.
For $100 more you can get an actual ultegra level shimano hubset on rims that are actually round stock, brand new from the box. If you're on a budget and can't afford quality components that will actually last you then don't buy anything. Nothing you can buy for $200 is significantly better than almost any stock wheelset you can find OEM on any bike worth
more than $1000 MSRP.
Know what you want and know what you're buying is good value. I see neither of these in generic wheelsets.